‘Be vigilant, identify real foe’

‘Shared happiness’ temporary phase

“THE Arab-Israeli political conflict and struggle filled with tensions showed its ugly hood in the Middle East region following the founding of the Zionist entity (Israel) in 1948,” columnist Hamad Saleh Al-Qattan wrote for Annahar daily Wednesday.

“Such being the case, the ArabIsraeli struggle mostly concentrates on the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the establishment of a State for the Jews. This has resulted in expelling most Palestinians from this Arab country.

“Not just that, Israel over the years is also involved in aggressions against some other Arab countries including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon and now occupies parts of these countries.

“However, the Arab-Israeli struggle has also passed through a significant era in the wake of conclusion of peace accords between Egypt and the Zionist entity and between the latter and Jordan respectively and this development gave rise to ArabArab conflicts when other Arab countries turned down this development which led to the boycott of Egypt and Jordan to protest the initiatives of these two countries to conclude separate peace accords with the Zionist entity (Israel).

“Not just that, in the wake of signing the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord, the other Arab countries were determined to move the seat of the Arab League (AL) from Cairo to Tunisia.

“However, the Arab countries at the beginning of 1980s resumed their relations with Egypt and the AL returned to Cairo.

“Anyway, in light of this long history of Arab-Israeli struggle and all the bloodshed and sacrifices made for the sake of the Palestinian cause, we had never imagined that a day will come to see the joy of the Zionists and their government coinciding with that of any Arab citizen in spite of any Arab-Arab conflicts that may surface particularly during the period that preceded 2008.

“But of late we were indeed surprised to see some Arab peoples and the Zionist entity (Israel) together in a state of happiness and this is something that should be discussed because this is unacceptable irrespective of the Arab-Arab conflicts that may surface over this issue or the other.

“In other words, no joint factor should be made available between the Arabs and Israel even if this factor concerns a state of joint happiness.

“However, ‘shared’ happiness between the Arabs and Israel, can actually be due to the so-called ‘soft’ war practiced by the imperialist countries and their plans to dominate the Arab region by brainwashing some Arabs in a bid to change the latter’s principles and tendencies by promoting sectarian and tribal seditions in the Arab region in a bid to divert the attention of the Arabs away from the Palestinian cause to such an extent anyone who insists to support this cause will be branded as untouchable by the media.

“Given the above, all of us are called upon to deal with our situation realistically and monitor who is currently attacked by both the Arab media and the Western armies and the latter arming, the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called ‘DAESH’, the organization that has nothing to do with Islam.

“In other words, we must recalculate our accounts and work to get rid of the black cloud which has appeared on the nation’s horizon and ingrained the dark thoughts in our minds and eventually distinguish our friends who support the Palestinian cause secretly and overtly and the foes.

“However, to know who your friend and who your foe is, you have to realize that what may please your enemy may anger him. If this happened, then the picture will be crystal clear and we shall eventually realize that the Zionist entity is the foe number one for the Arabs and this fact will not change over a period of time.”

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Al-Qattan

“The situation which currently prevails in the Iraqi capital Baghdad is not less worse than that which prevailed in the Iranian capital Tehran in 1979,” columnist Mubarak Mazyed Al-Moasherji wrote for Al-Rai daily Wednesday.

“During that year the streets of Tehran were filled with demonstrators and protesters who braved the police and their live ammunition and rubber bullets with their bare chests.

“However, the Tehran revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini succeeded, but the question here is, will the revolution in Baghdad which is currently led by the Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr taste the same success?

“As a matter of fact, the Iraqis have crowded the public squares in Baghdad and submitted a list of their demands which mostly call for reforms and end to corruption.

“However, the demonstrators are confronted by the paramilitary forces of Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi using all military weapons at their disposal and this has resulted in Al-Sayed Moqtada Al-Sadr reacting to the killing of dozens of Iraqis who were seeking justice and equality.

“Not just that, Al-Sadr has called on the government to punish those who were seen kicking and beating the demonstrators and were arrested by the troops.

“As a matter of fact, it appears both the Iraqi government and the Parliament are at the moment in a state of disarray, particularly since we know both powers represent an output of political parties which currently exchange accusations of corruption against each other and accusations of embezzling government money and failure to manage the potentials of the State.

“This happens at a time when the regular Iraqi army, the popular and the clannish forces are currently busy in a war to liberate Fallujah from the grasp of the Islamic State (IS) organization or the so-called ‘DAESH’, given the fact the latter still represents an enigma and nobody knows its identity or who is involved in financing this organization.

“However, it is needless to say the steps taken by Al-Sadr — who belong to a well-known and respectable Jihadist family — are steadily developing day by day as a leadership for an integrated popular revolution that looks similar to the Khomeini revolution.

“But these steps do not have the support of Iraqi political powers and the religious terms of references so far and this can be ascribed to many reasons including the fear of the Iranian influence in Iraq and the US declared support for the government of Haider Al-Abadi.

“Besides, some Iraqi politicians have refrained from supporting the revolution of Al-Sadr motivated by their fear that this revolution is likely to result in Iraq facing the same situation which currently prevails in Libya and other fascist countries as a result of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’.

“But in spite of the above, none of the Iraqi politicians or the religious terms of references have so far criticized Al-Sadr or his popular revolution. Not just that, we found the Iraqi former prime minister Iyad Allawi and the incumbent leader of the National Coalition attacking the Iraqi government has put forward demands which are no different from that of Al-Sadr. Not just that, Allawi has blamed the Al-Abadi for calling the demonstrators ‘sneakers’ and ‘demagogues’.

“But the question that may impose itself in this context is: Will Iraq become an Islamic republic and will follow in the footsteps of the Islamic Republic of Iran to end the civil war which currently tears apart Iraq and prevent the country’s division on ethnic and sectarian basis?”

“Over 400 years after its introduction, Don Quixote stories continue to immortalize the evergreen words of storyteller Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra as the greatest Spanish writer and one of the most renowned storytellers in world history,” Amal Al-Randi wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“Remembering great men cannot be conventional, especially if we consider the caliber of writer who left an indelible mark in Spanish literature and caused the world to look upon Spanish language as the language of Cervantes. In Spain and other parts of the world, some people appreciate Cervantes and history to the extent that annual events are organized in his memory, especially in Spain.

“Volunteers were reading texts of Don Quixote for 24 hours non-stop until they doubled it to 48 hours in 1998. The event is broadcast on television stations across Spain and other Spanish speaking countries. The life of Cervantes had been full of adventure associated with pains and bad luck in some instances.

“It started with partial paralysis of the left hand in the war against Turks when he was a soldier and when he fell into the bondage of pirates. He was a prisoner of war under the Ottoman Empire for five years in Algeria, and it ended with his imprisonment in his home country. He lived a life full of mind boggling incidents and still remained optimistic. He was a dogged fighter!”

“When I use the phrase ‘Political Islam’, I am referring to the moderate groups, parties and movements that practice politics through democracy and choose peace as the only way for meeting their targets,” Mubarak Fahad Al-Duwaila wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Muslim Brotherhood Group in Egypt, Justice and Development Party in Turkey, Islamic Constitutional Movement in Kuwait and Jamaat-eIslami in Bangladesh and Pakistan are examples of what I mean by ‘Political Islam’.

“For a long time, the opposers of the Political Islam waged a media war against this using all available legal and illegal methods with the aim of spreading a fake image about Political Islam. They portrayed political Islamists as terrorists and wrongfully accused them of committing crimes that they never committed. They even convinced some countries to categorize some moderate parties and movements as terrorist groups.

“Surprisingly, those who carried out such media campaigns against political Islamists are quite certain that the latter have never fired even a single gunshot. The question now is — What is the secret behind this war against the political Islamists? The answer is simple and logical.

“The enemies of Political Islam are aware that the Islamists can easily obtain the support of the people because of their practical and moderate attitudes due to which they will receive more votes from the citizens during any fair elections.

“The liberal and secular parties, during their long tenures, practiced all forms of dictatorship and injustice and labeled political Islamists as terrorists. All Islamic parties in the region have suffered from crises and disasters in the past such that Islamists have even been imprisoned for their political stances. Even people with minimum level of education are aware that most of the corruption and thefts are committed by those who describe themselves as liberal and secular.

“There is a very high desire among such people to soil the image of political Islamists. I remember a time when some employees of the Public Authority for the Disabled insisted that thousands of fake disability cases were approved by Islamist doctors. May Allah condemn such dissolute attitude!”

“Since the time the Council of Ministers has approved the payment of health insurance by expatriates, over two million of them either pay or have their sponsors pay a huge sum on their behalf every year,” columnist Dr Nayef Al-Adwani wrote for AlShahed daily.

“The health insurance is a basic criterion for the residence visa, yet all expatriates pay KD 1 or KD 2 for treatment in public health centers and hospitals respectively as the cost of regular treatment. This is in addition to other money they pay for X-rays and admission in hospitals, regardless of the fact that they pay so much every year.

“However, the fate of the money and how it is invested remains vague until now. Although the money collected is massive, the intention to cancel payment of health insurance by expatriates has been signified, based on a request by the Economic Development Committee affiliated to the Higher Council for Planning.

“This is also after issuing a decision to set up the Administrative Board for Health Insurance Hospitals Company, which will build three hospitals for treating expatriates one each in Ahmadi, Jahra and Farwaniya. This is in addition to 15 medical centers in all governorates.

“This means cancelling the health insurance and replacing it by payment of KD 100 health insurance to the Health Insurance Hospitals Company every year. This company is one of the many to be set up as part of the government-owned development plan companies.”

“Are we slow in comprehending? Our region started producing and exporting oil 70 years ago. Despite the slow production of oil at the beginning, it took only a little time before we became one of the richest and wealthiest countries in the world,” columnist Ali Al-Bidaah wrote for AlJaridah daily.

“However, we mishandled the wealth in our hands and all that we did with it was to acquire the wealthy façade of our identity, up to a point where the world identifies us with the ugliest description of wealth due to our extravagance and lack of proper management of our wealth in the sense that it will benefit us in the future.

“Even those buying our oil are frustrated to see every penny they spent being swallowed by the desert sand. There is no futuristic project that they can partially take pride in contributing into it through their purchase of oil. When we go to their countries as tourists, they get more frustrated over how good we are in wasting our wealth.

“Nevertheless, blackmailers have devised a way of taking our wealth back to their pockets. Whenever our accounts in their countries witness a surplus, they come up with a scenario which makes us run back to them for protection so we subsequently pay them for their services. For the past 70 years, we have been buying weapons and engaging in war after war. For those who noticed, this happens whenever our economy is doing well.

“The two great nations — Germany and Japan — incurred a huge loss during the Second World War. Their towns and cities were reduced into rubble, but a few years later, these two nations reemerged from the rubble to become giants in economy, culture and science. This is in addition to their high rate of growth and development. Do we have less ability than them? I don’t think so. The trick is we should start thinking with our brains, instead of our stomachs.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb